I didn't see the Saturday Night Live with Betty White that aired a few weeks ago but I did see several clips. In one skit she's a police captain. When somebody asks her who she thinks committed the crime she looks at the camera and says:
It's like my underwear: "Depends."
Right now I'm reading "Heaven - Our Enduring Fascination with the Afterlife." It's written by Lisa Miller who is the religion writer for Newsweek. So she isn't writing as a theologian. She's writing as a journalist and researcher.
Did the ancient Jews believe in heaven? That's always been a controversy. Lisa, after much delving into the Torah and after many discussions with great minds in that area says, essentially, no, they did not believe in heaven.
But then she says, wait, two men, Enoch and Elijah, went to heaven! In Genesis it says, "And Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, for God took him."
And most of us know the story of Elijah from the book of Kings. Elijah is walking along with his disciple Elisha (man, I used to get those two mixed up) when a whirlwind takes him up to heaven in a chariot of fire.
So, did the ancient scriptures give us a glimpse of heaven or not?
I guess it ...
Depends!
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